DSWT Community Outreach Report June 2014

COMMUNITY OUTREACH MONTHLY REPORT JUNE 2014 SUMMARY: The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) Community Outreach program’s main objective is to promote an understanding of wildlife conservation amongst the communities living in wildlife areas whilst gaining community goodwill by sustainable support of community based projects. In the month of June, the DSWT hosted ten (10) school trips, five (5) video shows and donated one hundred (100) Neem tree seedlings to the Kenya National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA).

For the last few months the DSWT has been funding the construction of three new classrooms for Kamunyu School, one of the schools located within the DSWT’s Peregrine Conservation Area, close to the Trust’s Kaluku HQ. As with so many schools within this marginalised area, Kamunyu, which has enrolled just under 100 children, has inadequate facilities and resources. These new classrooms, unlike the current mud structures and poorly constructed rooms, have been built to offer a cooler and more comfortable environment for the children with large windows and solid flooring.

SCHOOL TRIPS Kajire Girls-1 G.Sowa Primary-1 G.Sowa Primary-2 Whitehouse primary-1 Whitehouse primary-2 Kajire Girls-2 Mushirinyi Primary-1 Mushirinyi Primary-2 Judes Education Ceanter-1 Judes Education Center-2

STUDENTS TEACHERS th

5 June, 2014 6th June, 2014 7th June, 2014 8th June, 2014 9th June, 2014 10th June, 2014 17th June, 2014 19th June, 2014 21st June, 2014 23rd June, 2014

TOTAL FILM SHOWS Mushirinyi primary-2 Maili kumi primary Boda primary Mariwenyi Primary-1 Mariwenyi Primary-2

TOTAL

25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

250

30

STUDENTS TEACHERS 3rd June, 2014 4th June, 2014 16th June, 2014 18th June, 2014 25th June, 2014

245 510 320 120 120

10 15 12 7 7

1324

51

JUNE 2014 SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS

The majority of children from communities bordering National Parks have never been within the parks due to the high entry fees involved. The DSWT organises a fully sponsored field trip for hundreds of children including a return bus journey, entry fees, a DSWT guide and lunch. Accompanied by the DSWT’s education officer, the children are taken to some of the most exciting sites within the Park where there are high chances of spotting several of the Big Five whilst being offered in-depth information about every species encountered.

In June school children from the Voi area were taken to Tsavo East National park where they had the opportunity to visit the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Education Centre, the DSWT Voi Orphan Stockade, Aruba Dam, Kanderi Swamp and Mudanda Rock among other sites.

JUNE 2014 SCHOOL WILDLIFE FILM SHOWS

The main focus of the DSWT Film Shows is the dissemination of accurate information about wildlife and environmental conservation in a ‘fun’ way. The future of Kenyan wildlife rests mostly on the upcoming generation of children who are the intended audience of our shows. Lack of information or misinformation can lead to human attitudes and actions that can jeopardise conservation efforts.

JUNE 2014 TREE DONATIONS

In June the DSWT donated 100 Neem seedlings from the Kaluku tree nursery to the Kenya Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) in Taita Taveta County. This was during the NEMA launch of a Green Point which will enable NEMA’s officers to improve and expand the advisory role in supporting sustainable green growth development in Mwatate, Taita Taveta County.

JUNE 2014 CLASSROOM DONATION With a very generous donation through the DSWT’s Community Outreach program, three new classrooms have been built for Kamunyu School located within the Trust’s Peregrine Conservation Area. These smart new classrooms are a huge improvement for this school, which is located within an extremely marginalised community and has only ever known mud classrooms without floors, proper windows or doors.

With nearly 100 children enrolled within Kamunyu School these classrooms have been much awaited and will make a tremendous impact on every child’s learning environment whilst offering the teachers a better foundation in which to work and teach their students.

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is reliant on your kind support in order to keep our community outreach projects running.

For more information about these projects please visit www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.com/community or email info@dswt.org